Former Cavie short in shot at Olympic Trials, will settle for discus at Rio

Pete Hayes, phayes@civitasmedia.com

Published
9:19 pm CDT, Thursday, July 7, 2016

Former Carlinville High School and University of Wisconsin star Kelsey Card fell short Thursday in her attempt to qualify for the US Olympic Team in the shot put. Card had already qualified for the Olympics in the discus. less

Former Carlinville High School and University of Wisconsin star Kelsey Card fell short Thursday in her attempt to qualify for the US Olympic Team in the shot put. Card had already qualified for the Olympics in ... more

Photo: Wisconsin Badgers Athletics

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Former Carlinville High School and University of Wisconsin star Kelsey Card fell short Thursday in her attempt to qualify for the US Olympic Team in the shot put. Card had already qualified for the Olympics in the discus. less

Former Carlinville High School and University of Wisconsin star Kelsey Card fell short Thursday in her attempt to qualify for the US Olympic Team in the shot put. Card had already qualified for the Olympics in ... more

EUGENE, Ore. — Carlinville High grad Kelsey Card will have to settle on being an Olympian in one event instead of two.

Four days after qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track Team in the women’s discus, Card was hoping to earn a spot on Team USA in the shot put at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials But she was unable to earn a fair throw in the shot put and finished 24th in the shot put.

“I think I was almost too relaxed and didn’t have a sense of urgency,” Card said in an interview Friday. “My technical pieces just didn’t add up.”

Card was the only athlete in the shot put who had already earned a spot on the team in the discus. Going into the shot competition, Card was unsure of that would be a plus or not.

Card’s coach, Wisconsin throws coach and former SIUE track coach Dave Astrauskas, told Card he was already thinking about the Olympic Game set for Rio de Janeiro

“After her third throw, she came over to me and said she was sorry, she didn’t mean to let me down,” Astrauskas told reporters late Thursday. “But I was already thinking about Rio, not the shot put. I told her, ‘We came here to make the Olympic team, and we succeeded. Let’s celebrate the good.’”

Card will compete in the discus at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro beginning at 6:30 p.m. Central Time on Monday, Aug. 15.

Card, who was ranked ninth in the world in the shot put, fouled on all three of her attempts in Thursday afternoon’s shot put preliminaries, thus ending her hopes of qualifying in a second Olympic event.

“Kelsey said her body felt a little weird today,” Astrauskas said. “Her last two tries, she got it out there halfway decent.”

Card needed to finish in the top 12 in prelims to advance to the Thursday night finals. But she lost her grip and the shot slipped out of her hand on the first attempt and had foot fouls stepping out of the ring on her other two tries.

“Obviously, (the shot put) wasn’t very good,” Card said. “But I’m very excited for training leading up to Rio.

“While I spin in both shot and discus, it will be nice to zone in on just the disc for a while and really try to nail down the specific technical things attached to disc that we’ve been working on.”

Card added that missing out on the shot put might be a blessing in disguise in another way as well.

“It will be beneficial just to be able to get more disc throws in,” she said.

Mick Byrne, her coach at Wisconsin, said her attempt to make it to the Olympics in two events was admirable.

“We’re incredibly proud of Kelsey,” Byrne said. “I admire her courage to want to go back out there again and compete in the shot put. I’m not sure where she found that energy to even do that considering what has gone on the last couple of days for her after making Team USA in the discus. It shows what a great athlete she is.

“Obviously she looked a little bit off and wasn’t on her game,” Byrne said. “That’s okay. It shows that even the best of the competitors can have an off day, and that’s what today was. I know she wanted to make the final, but she is going to Rio. What an amazing week it has been for her.

“Now she can concentrate on the discus and relax for a few days and let this experience and journey soak in. Then she can get back to work and concentrate 100 percent on the discus leading up to Rio.”

Card, who recently graduated from Wisconsin, won the NCAA discus championship in June and was fourth in the shot put. She also won the Big Ten shot put championship.

At Carlinville High School, Card was a four-time IHSA Class A state champion in the shot and discus and was a four-time Telegraph Track Athlete of the Year.